Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75323 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75323 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
CHAPTER SEVEN
Lula
“I don’t understand why you keep apologizing,” Cillian said, frowning up at me from behind his desk.
“I know I was just on vacation—”
“That you’re entitled to and that you’ve hardly taken in years. You’ve got half a year of vacation time built up.”
“But I was never supposed to take so much of it all at once.”
“Lu, you’re not even taking a vacation. You’re working remotely. Like I have told you, have been entitled to do since I first hired you. We really don’t need to be discussing this at all.”
“It’s adding inconvenience to you.”
“Not really. You’re inconveniencing Rian.”
“Why Rian?”
“He pissed me off this week. So he gets to pick up any slack there might be.”
“Perks of being the big brother and the boss. I don’t have an exact date for—”
“Lula. Stop. The work will get done. I’m not worried about from where. Just do me a favor and use this.” He opened a desk drawer and dug around until he produced two small, chunky rectangles. “Mobile hotspots. Don’t want you connecting to sketchy-ass WiFi somewhere. Stick with these. Each one is one hundred twenty hours of browsing for the month. Should be more than enough. But if you run out, just let me know. I will add more.”
“Oh, this is great. Thanks.”
“The password is on the bottom. Now stop apologizing and start packing.”
“I really appreciate this.”
“Stop. Stop. Everyone needs to get away sometimes.”
“Says the man who has literally never taken a vacation ever.”
“This is one of those ‘do as I say, not as I do’ kind of things. I don’t want you burning out. If you need to work on a sandy beach somewhere, so be it. I want you fresh and focused. By whatever means necessary.” He shuffled some papers. “A weekly massage should have been a part of your benefits package from the beginning. Maybe I’ll get on that while you’re away.”
That sounded amazing.
“That’s not necessary. Do you want me to check in when—”
“When have I ever needed you to check in? Work when it fits around your schedule. I trust you.”
He did, too.
Implicitly.
I really landed the best boss in the world.
“Now get out of my office and go have some fun.”
“Okay. Okay. I’m going.” I paused at the door. “Hey, Cillian?”
“Yeah?”
“Promise me something.”
“Babe, don’t make it sound like you’re not coming back.”
“No, I am. I swear. But I want you to make a small promise to me.”
“Alright. What is it?”
“I want you to take off Saturday and do something fun.”
“Saturdays are—”
“Busy. I know. But you have four brothers and a highly trained staff. You can trust them. And you need time off even more than I do. So promise me.”
“Fine,” he said, leaning back in his chair and sighing. “I will take the day off.”
“And do something fun.”
“Lu, I’m not sure I even know what fun is anymore.”
“Exactly,” I said, nodding.
“I guess… I will figure it out.”
“Good. I expect a full report when I get back.”
“Really making it so I can’t fuck around on this, huh?”
“That’s the point,” I agreed, giving him a wave.
“Be safe, Lu.”
“Have fun, Cill.”
It felt like a thousand-pound weight lifted from my shoulders as I grabbed my work laptop and made my way out of the building.
I should have known Cillian would be that chill about it. It was my own work ethic that made me insecure about asking to change how I operated for a while. Even though, like he said, we both knew I would get my work done.
And I was going to have nothing but time in the car to work on the books.
I still couldn’t quite believe what I was about to do.
Get in a car with Raff and drive all the way across the damn country with him.
Though, I had to admit, it sounded a lot less stressful to let the man who had done the drive a million times before do the driving while I just came along for the ride.
I hadn’t done a lot of long-distance driving in the past. My last drive to Florida had been pretty miserable for me. Trying to read old road signs and listen to my GPS, freaking out when I took the wrong turn, panicking over the price of hotel rooms. It was just not fun for me.
A road trip with Raff?
I would never admit it out loud, but it sounded fun.
I made my way back to the motel, double and triple checking my luggage, then tucking my work laptop and hotspots in a weekender bag for safekeeping.
I fretted about leaving anything behind until I heard something on the outside of my door.
Yanking it open, I found Jack standing there with a tape dispenser in his hand.
“What are you doing?”
“Safeguarding your room while you’re away.” He waved to my door. Where the lunatic posted a biohazard sign to my door.